Glenn Beck tried to buy Current TV

1/3/13 9:27 AM EST

According to The Wall Street Journal, Glenn Beck’s media company, The Blaze, approached Current Media about a sale last year, but was told in the words of one source that “the legacy of who the network goes to is important to us and we are sensitive to networks not aligned with our point of view."

The Blaze "reached out to them to buy it," a source familiar with the talks told POLITICO. "They would have replaced Current programming with The Blaze programming, but were told on initial calls that [Current] wouldn't sell to someone they weren't ideologically in line with."

In explaining the reasons for selling to Al-Jazeera, Current co-founder and CEO Joel Hyatt told the Journal that the Qatari-based broadcaster "was founded with the same goals we had for Current," including "to give voice to those whose voices are not typically heard" and "to speak truth to power."

Those familiar with Al-Jazeera English know that it is a straightforward, hard-hitting and thorough news-gathering channel. But critics on the right will no doubt find irony in the fact that Current, which was co-founded by climate change advocate Al Gore, agreed to be bought out by a broadcaster owned by the Qatari government, and therefore funded by oil.

Those critics will also find irony in the fact that Gore and Current wanted to close the deal before Dec. 31, in order to avoide the higher tax rates that were to take effect on Jan. 1 — a detail flagged by Brian Stelter, who broke the news about Al-Jazeera's bid. (The deal was not signed until Jan. 2.)